The History of Swearing in Movies

Bad language is so common in movies and TV these days, we barely even notice it anymore – so it’s weirdly interesting and funny to look back on the detailed history of allowing actors to swear on camera.

Movie Munchies put together this cool video about the history of cursing in Hollywood movies, starting with the very first utterance of a curse word on screen in 1929, and the first use of the word “fuck” in a 1933 cartoon. The MPAA banned profanity in 1934, leading to “Gone With the Wind” causing a scandal a few years later with Rhett Butler’s classic line “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Swearing returned to stay in the 1960s and went nuts in the 1980s, including Al Pacino breaking the record for the most “fucks” in a single film with “Scarface.”